Matilda the Musical survives its director
Matilda the Musical survives Daryl Cloran’s direction, even though he makes a good stab at bludgeoning it to death. The material itself is fantastic. Based on Roald Dahl’s 1988 novel, Matilda tells the story of a bright, sensitive little girl — whose parents despise...
Other Inland Empires: surfing in shallow water
Formally innovative, Other Inland Empires also looks like it’s also going to be theatrically and thematically rewarding — at first. Writer and director Julie Hammond presents three characters: she has written herself into the piece as a narrator; her grandmother, who...
Lady Parts: I like ’em
Lady Parts is a feminist revue that includes sketch comedy, personal testimony, and a whole lot of political fuck-you-ness. It’s hilarious, it’s necessary, and it's so welcome. Lady Parts wields transgression like a stick that it’s using to smash the piñata of the...
The Cake: bittersweet, delicious
I’m so grateful. Pacific Theatre’s production of The Cake is coming at the right time — at the necessary time. With Alabama’s virtual ban on abortion just the latest in states’ restrictions of female autonomy, the Trump administration’s assault on LGBTQ rights, and...
The Fitting Room: the pieces don’t fit
Ellery Lamm, who wrote The Fitting Room, shows promise as a playwright, but that promise hasn’t ripened yet. In this script, she presents a parallel set of crises. In the first, Henry, who’s 13, has dared his friend Noah to stand on the ice in the middle of a hockey...
Nassim is a retread
Nassim feels like an endless set-up for an experience that barely arrives. Starting in 2011, playwright Nassim Soleimanpour made an international name for himself with a much better script, White Rabbit Red Rabbit. At that time, Soleimanpour wasn’t allowed to leave...
The Great Leap: hobbled by a slight script
This script’s heart doesn’t start pumping until well in to Act 2. Until then, it’s on the artificial life support of a visually dynamic production. In The Great Leap, American playwright Lauren Yee tells the story of a Chinese-American kid named Manford. Although he’s...
The Sea floated my boat — intermittently
Like a kid who has had the wrong kind of home schooling, Edward Bond’s The Sea is wildly creative—and undisciplined. It takes you to a refreshingly original imaginative world but then insists that you linger too long in some of the duller corners. Set in 1907, The...
Dead People’s Things: dump ’em
This play contains one moderately interesting idea. It comes very near the end of the 95-minute runtime. It’s a long wait. In Dave Deveau’s new script, Dead People’s Things, a young woman named Phyllis has inherited a house from her estranged aunt, who was a hoarder....
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